Re: Fw: microwave bands in use

Jeffrey S Austin, N8VNA, wrote:
>I didn't trim my reply because the whole message from Dan was
>relevant. I don't think Dan's reply was helpful as much as it was
>sarcastic. This entire discussion has gotten totally out of hand. I'm
>starting to question if ham radio will survive with all the back
>stabbing and name calling.
I am sorry if you interpeted my reply as sarcasm. Most of the
private e-mail that I received was supportive (thanks guys).
I believe that I ended that reply by stating that it was not
Greg's fault that he was posting HTML to Amsat-BB because he is
a newcomer to the internet and because nobody ever explained
the issues to him.
As for my use of a government computer, in the early days of the
internet, the net was only available to government employees and
university researchers on government contracts. Everybody more or
less understood that postings to discussion groups represented
personal opinions and not official government positions.
Everybody also more or less understood the rules of "nettiquette",
such as not posting binary files on discussion groups.
Today the net has largely become a commercial operation, and the
millions of new users may not be familiar with the way things
were in the early days. Some people include signature files
expressly declaring that they are not speaking on behalf of
their employer, just to make that clear. I will admit that the
government functions largely on appearance, and thus may be
sensitive to the opinions of the new users who are not familiar
with the way things were in the past. The internet used to be a
small town where everybody knew each other and more or less came
from a common background. Today it is a big city, with people
from more diverse backgrounds who may not understand the history
and culture of the net. Those of us dinosaurs who remember things
the way they were may be slow in adjusting to that fact that the
net is not a small town atmosphere anymore.
Dan Schultz N8FGV